As set forth in the Lund et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,241,133, issued Dec. 23, 1980 and assigned to the assignee of the present invention, it has been found to be desirable in the construction of compressed or composite wood particle products to employ wood flakes which are very thin and which have a length at least several times their width and to align the wood flakes in mutually parallel alignment and in alignment with the longitudinal axis of the product being produced. This produces a product having substantially improved strength characteristics in the direction of alignment of the wood flakes. The production of such compressed wood products formed from an assembly of wood particles first requires the formation of a loosely felted mat of such wood particles. The mat is then compressed to form a densified panel or board. One problem encountered in forming the loosely felted mat is that the alignment or orientation of the elongated wood flakes is made difficult because the wood flakes, which are very light and comparatively fragile, have to be handled en masse, and this has resulted in the clogging of the known machines that were tried for this purpose. Additionally, it has been difficult to produce mats of uniform thickness using prior art machines. Another problem in connection with handling and orienting the wood flakes has been that the flakes tend to be randomly oriented as they fall onto the mat and must be held in alignment as they are deposited.
Examples of prior art attempts to design suitable apparatus for forming mats of aligned wood strands are set forth in the Elmendorf U.S. Pat. No. 3,478,861, issued Nov. 18, 1969; the Elmendorf U.S. Pat. No. 3,220,743, issued Aug. 24, 1965; the Turner et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,721,329, issued Mar. 30, 1973; the Urmanov U.S. Pat. No. 3,963,400, issued June 15, 1976; and Canadian Pat. No. 597,941, issued May 10, 1960.
Attention is also directed to the Hostettler U.S. Pat. No. 3,226,764, issued June 4, 1966; the Hostettler U.S. Pat. No. 3,070,838, issued Jan. 1, 1963; the Carlsson et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,692,612, issued Sept. 19, 1972; the Paerels et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,372,217, issued Mar. 5, 1968; the Axer et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,824,058, issued July 16, 1974; and the Chapman U.S. Pat. No. 3,992,152, issued July 11, 1961.